This week, across the United States, American families — from the coasts to the southeast to the midwest — will be sharing Prosecco DOCG for their Thanksgiving holiday feast.
And so will we here in southeast Texas along the Louisiana border (although we live in Houston, we travel about an hour and half to Orange, Texas, to celebrate the holiday with my wife Tracie’s family).
From the deviled eggs and fried boudin balls that are served as appetizers at my family’s Thanksgiving feast (just to get things started on a lighter note) to the smoked turkey, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato pie, green beans, spiral ham, and seven-layer salad, Prosecco DOCG is a wonderful pairing that marries well with literally everything on the Thanksgiving table. And don’t get me started about the pies: Pumpkin, chocolate, pecan… I can’t think of another wine that would fit the bill like Prosecco DOCG.
A generation ago, no one even knew what Prosecco was in this country. I can still remember when I tasted my first Prosecco during my junior year abroad at the University of Padua while an undergraduate at U.C.L.A. The year was 1988 and my friends had taken me for a drive up to Valdobbiadene to eat tagliatelle with porcini mushrooms. The wine they served? Prosecco, of course!
Back then, the Prosecco DOCG didn’t exist. There was just Prosecco DOC (the DOCG was rolled out in 2009). But the wine was a revelation nonetheless.
Today, more than three decades later, Prosecco DOCG is ubiquitous in this country. It’s a wine that will be served in every corner of the nation, including our roughly 20-person Thanksgiving feast along the Gulf Coast.
Red, white, and bubbly: Today, Prosecco DOCG is part of the fabric — culinary and otherwise — of our America.
It’s one of Italy’s gifts to our country, a gift that any and all, from all walks of life, can share and enjoy in good company.
And it’s something to be grateful for this year on Thanksgiving.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! And thanks for being here and following along. Happy holidays. We’ll see you next week.
CAMPAGNA FINANZIATA AI SENSI DEL REG. UE N. 1308/2013
CAMPAIGN FINANCED ACCORDING TO EU REG. N. 1308/2013